During a powder coating process it is common to use paint masking devices, such as plugs or caps, to cover or conceal areas of an article to be painted, such as holes or apertures, where the plugs or caps may cover or conceal the area of the article during the coating and/or heating or baking steps of the powder coating process. These painting masking devices can accumulate paint, making future reuse of the paint masking devices difficult and in some cases unmanageable or undesirable. Various paint removal processes are known, such as chemical stripping and scrapping; however, these processes are not typically cost effective or automated in a way to remove powered coated paint residue from such paint masking devices.